Coinciding with the exhibition Re-Generation, which maps the lasting effect of Josef Albers teaching on three successive generations of painters, is a small but exuberant show of paintings and works on paper by another teacher of color theory, painter Siri Berg.

The exhibition, entitled It’s All About Color, is dominated by three polyptychs, each consisting of progressions of monochrome panels. Though all three share a visual language, their arrangements are varied, and each stakes out its own chromatic territory. Carrie Patterson, who curated both shows, notes that “one set of nine canvases are shown in sequence; the second series is far more playful and invites the viewer to mix and match the canvases in different order where the viewer chooses the orientation and gradation of the series.”

Working in such series is not new territory for Berg. Heli Haapasalo noted in a 2003 review that Berg’s “modular" systems are "a flexible method of creating and combining work, a process by which [her pictures] can each stand apart or join others as an ensemble, with no loss of visual integrity.” In the current exhibition Berg’s signature serial deployment of colored panels results in an optical recreation of the process of mixing color.

Although Berg’s formats and surfaces are cerebral and calculated, she has stated she wishes to “Embrace the Expressionistic!” 1 Conceptual restriction, in Berg’s hands, does add up to exuberant expression and has a painterly feel. Berg’s language of pure color and forms (formats, really) is simultaneously precise and animated. Berg’s works are, thus, a paradox - exuberance born of control.

Artist/teachers from Thomas Eakins to Robert Henri and Charles W. Hawthorne have played an important role in shaping generations of American artists. From the mid-century and into the post-war period Josef Albers had a great and lasting influence on American art. His famous color exercises, collected in the seminal text The Interaction of Color, were published in 1963 with the help of his students.

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Edited by artist Brett Baker, Painters' Table highlights writing from the painting blogosphere as it is published and serves as a platform for exploring blogs that focus primarily on the subject of painting.